


Tram

by reallivewire



Category: Rammstein
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Oneshot, a lot of insecurity, it's the early days of Rammstein, romantic boys, the band doesn't exist yet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-10
Updated: 2018-01-10
Packaged: 2019-02-28 17:21:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13276236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reallivewire/pseuds/reallivewire
Summary: I decided to translate one of my first Rammstein fanfics into English. Hope you like it!Till and Richard share a small apartment in Berlin and decide to invite the potential future members of their band project 'Rammstein' over for a cup of coffee.Richard is confronted with his unexpected feelings towards one of the guests.





	Tram

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [Social](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/348936) by germanmoobs (me). 



> Please note that I translated this fanfiction from German to English. If there are any major mistakes or things I could improve in general feel free to tell me about them!  
> Here's a link in case you'd like to read my original non-translated version of the fanfic: https://www.fanfiktion.de/s/5741fc940005d4c52e208525/1/Social  
> I know that the pairing Reesh/Flake is super unusual but I really hope you'll enjoy it anyway! :)

Outside, it was raining heavily. The waterdrops that suddenly flashed silver from the darkness of the sky, pattered against the slightly dirty window panes in a steady rhythm.  
A floor lamp in the corner of the living room was radiating an atmosphere bathed in soft light and Richard was struggling to get up from his relaxed lying position, in order to help Till who had just called out for him. His voice was obviously coming from the kitchen.  
Thus, the guitarist waited for a few seconds before he broke away from the ambience, that both of them had arduosly prepared.  
Till was already waiting for him with a rather annoyed expression on his face.  
Richard could watch as his room-mate‘s left, pierced eyebrow wandered futher toward the hairline.  
“Could you hurry up a little?! You know that I‘ve never really understood how to use this goddamn coffee machine!“  
“Sure, sure. I‘ll do it.“  
With an ironic sigh, Richard pushed past his friend and pressed one of the blinking buttons. A few seconds passed, in which Richard gave Till an exaggerated bored glimpse.  
Then came the humming sound of the coffee machine and shortly thereafter the guitarist handed an almost filled cup of coffee to Till.  
He took it with a reluctant sound, then he looked nervously over his muscular shoulder to the front door.  
“They should be here soon. Do you think we‘ve done everything right so far?“  
Richard couldn‘t avoid a grin. It was hard to believe that Till was so worried about his impression on others.  
“Of course. It‘s not like they are a bunch of strangers visiting us.“  
They had already gathered the candidates for the band project Rammstein once.  
However, this meeting had been two months ago and their whole plan was so far only a small idea. No one could tell if everything would turn out as expected. Maybe they would have to cancel „Project Rammstein“ after all.  
Despite all of that this evening was only a small part of the whole idea.  
“I‘ll be the one making coffee for them, okay? Relax.“  
Till nervously ran his fingers through his black hair.  
“Fine.“

 

“Erm, can I put my shoes over there?“  
Schneider was the first one to enter through the front door of the small appartement.  
His short hair had gained volume from the humidity of the rain and now was looking more like a muffin that bobbed up and down with each and every movement. As the man stood there, awkwardly smiling in the doorway, Richard had to bite back his laughter.  
But their future drummer would not have noticed it anyway. A light-blue towel hit him on the back of his head and five seconds later, Schneider was sitting in the living room with Till, enjoying an almost filled cup of coffee.

Paul was the next one to arrive. One could already hear his fast steps on the tiles of the stairwell, even though there still were two floors separating them.  
The rain had taken its toll on him and slowly a puddle accumulated on the floor of the hallway.  
“Hey, Richard!“ Paul smiled warmly at him, completely oblivious to the fact that he had just flooded another part of the corridor by taking of his too large jacket.  
Richard smiled back hesitantly.  
Despite Paul‘s happy greeting, he noticed immediately that something wasn‘t quite right. The second guitarist had cut his half-length blond-dyed within the two months. Now the natural brown shade of his hair could be seen again in some places.  
Even his smile was different than it had been at their last meeting. Less carefree.  
Richard swallowed softly as Paul walked past him to join Till and Schneider in the living room. The guitarist stroked his short, spiky hair worriedly.  
He had an extremely unpleasant assumption and it confirmed itself when he heard a faint voice next to him. As faint and quietly as if the person it belonged to did not want to be heard at all.  
“Thanks for holding the door open for me.“  
In front of him stood Flake, alone in the hallway with a black umbrella in his left hand.  
Compared to Schneider and Paul, the rain had spared him quite a bit, but his tall, thin build made him look worn out and uncertain.  
Slowly Richard attempted to shake his hand and inspected the other man‘s face. Blonde strands of hair hung over the edge of his round glasses and hid the slightly narrowed eyebrows.  
“So.. you didn‘t come with Paul?“, Richard asked, still waiting to shake his hand.  
Flake hesitated for a brief moment, then ignored Richard‘s outstretched hand and silently followed him down the hall.  
Till looked up from his small gray poetry book as the two came in. It seemed like he had been reading out loud some of his poems for the others.  
“I guess Ollie is going to be a little late then?“  
Schneider who was sitting next to the singer shrugged his schoulders briefly.  
“Doesn‘t matter that much, does it?“  
Richard nodded. He was about to give Till an appreciative smile, since the man seemed to have completely forgotten his nervousness. But then he noticed Flake not sitting down next to Paul (like he had expected) but on one of the small stools far away from his friend.  
“Why don‘t you sit down with us, Richard? I‘m reading aloud my new poem.“  
“Mh-hm.“ Richard sank into the cushion of the sofa but neither did he listen to Till nor did he pay attention to Schneider‘s obviously impressed gestures. His chest tightened painfully at the idea that Paul and Flake must have split up shortly after he had first met the couple. Back then, Richard seen them kissing goodbye and he had to admit that he had never forgotten the sight of it. It had looked so beautiful when their lips had touched in such a familiar motion that Richard‘s heart had made a small jump. He still remembered Flake‘s happy smile and how he had ran his fingers through Paul‘s tousled hair shortly before they parted ways. Now he had to watch their relationship fall apart. The two men did not even dare to look each other in the eye, let alone make their way to his flat together. Paul‘s hair did not look as soft as it used to and the little braid was gone as well. There was absolutely nothing left of Flake‘s smile.  
Slowly Richard leaned forward and took a sip of water from his glass which had been standing on the small sideboard next to the sofa since morning. He hoped it would make the depressing feeling disappear. But he only felt even more how hard it was for him not to sink into pity and he was very relieved when Till sent him into the kitchen to make some more coffee. Once there, the guitarist took a deep breath and leaned against one of the counters. He couldn‘t put his finger on what was wrong with him but he felt more agitated than he would under usual circumstances. Slightly insecure about his situation he turned to the coffee machine behind him and switched it on. As he waited for machine to finish its work he propped his left arm on the counter and rested his chin onto his left hand. His gaze got caught on the red metal lining of the machine. Perhaps the minimalist design would help him to clear his mind. Soon the water inside the tank would be heated and then – no, it simply didn‘t work like that.  
Groaning in frustration Richard buried his face in his hands. But not even the darkness could prevent the image of the kiss from shoving in his mind‘s eye again and again. Every time he had to watch the lips of the two meeting softly, he felt his heart flutter. The small cinema in his mind had been repeating this movie for days. Of course he had not told Till about any of this. Though, every time when he was completely alone, for example showering in the evening, he was caught up in the pictures again and needed to recover. Richard had been in love many times but certainly it had never felt this way before. Yes, he had also been into men but he had never felt so much of it. Nevertheless he could not and he did not want to deny it.  
Moments passed. Richard tried to calm his mind and finally brought the cups of coffee into the living room. The coffee had gotten cold a long time ago.  
“Took you long enough, Richard! Have you been wanki-“  
Till couldn‘t finish his sentence because at that very moment Ollie finally came through the front door. He bumped right into Richard and brown coffee stains gathered on the already soaked floor.  
“Oh damn!“ The unusually tall bassist slapped his palm against his forehead, almost touching the edge of the door frame with his bald head.  
“I‘m so sorry! For being late and well.. for that.“  
Richard was about to give a soothing response when his gaze wandered over Ollie‘s shoulder and into the stairway.  
Flake stood in the dim light and turned around when he realized that he had been noticed. When had he snuck past them?  
“I-I‘ve got to leave. Still got something to do.“  
“What do you have to do?“ Schneider leaned past Ollie. Richard could see how skeptical he was.  
“Nothing special.“  
The keyboarder turned away from them and started walking down the stairs in a hurry.  
“Wait!“ Richard simply could not help it. His body had moved on its own. But Flake did not stop. He just kept walking.  
The guitarist turned around to give Till a questioning look but the other man had already handed him a cloak with a conspiratorial look on his face. He then pointed at the coffee stains at his feet.  
“I‘ll take care of this.“  
Richard smiled gratefully at his friend, put on his cloak and started running.

He almost slipped on the last step but the soles of his black boots regained their hold and he dove out of the door just in time.  
“Hey! I told you to wait!“  
The rain had stopped and the Keyboarder held the umbrella as if he wanted to defend himself.  
“What is it?“, he tried to sound repellent but his voice sounded far too uncertain. Richard knew that Flake was at least a little bit happy that he had followed him.  
The guitarist smiled. “Where are you going? To the train station? I‘ll come with you.“  
Flake‘s expression was somewhere between disbelief and wonder but then he lowered the umbrella and raised his eyebrows in amusement. To Richard‘s delight the anxious wrinkle on his forehead disappeared as well.  
For a few minutes the two silently walked side by side. Richard‘s gaze wandered over the paving stones to the man‘s profile to his right. He must have looked at him for the fifth time now. His pale skin stood out against the dark night sky and the streetlights broke in the lenses of his glasses. Richard continued to study his blue eyes, which looked absently straight ahead. The guitarist reacted just in time before he could even lose himself near the other man‘s lips.  
“Which tram do you have to take?“  
The question came suddenly but it had saved him.  
“Pankow.“  
It would take thirty minutes for said train to arrive and it would take them ten minutes to get to the station. Of course Richard decided not to comment on this.  
Of course, the truth was that Flake didn‘t have to get anything done at all. He just wanted to be far away from his grief and Richard could understand him well. But he only had ten weak minutes. It was impossible to discuss such a sensitive topic and provide comfort in such a short amount of time. No matter how much Richard wished to help Flake.  
Still, he wanted to let the other know that he was there for him. When he noticed that the other‘s white shirt sleeves fluttered in the wind and revealed his wrists, he carefully reached for his arm.  
“Aren‘t you cold?“ Why wasn‘t he wearing a jacket?  
“A little bit maybe.“  
Suddenly a picture of the too-large jacket that Paul had left in the hallway appeared in Richard‘s head. He let go of Flake‘s arm.  
He swallowed and felt the depressing feeling rising up in him, once more constricting his ribcage.  
The whole situation made him feel so sorry that could not put it into words anymore. So he silently took off his black coat and put it around the keyboarder‘s shoulders. He could only see the astonished flash of light in the other‘s eyes for a moment, then they disappeared into the darkness of the subway. They were only minutes away from the platform.  
Richard listened to the echo of their footsteps in the dark.  
Soon he would have to say goodbye and he couldn‘t even tell for sure if he had helped Flake even a bit. Desperately he tried to slow down. Was it possible to help someone just by walking next to them?  
As if it had been a secret sign to him, something cool touched the guitarist‘s hand weakly. As he cautiously put his fingers around it, he felt the slight movement of Flake‘s hand against his at every step.  
He did not return his grip but Richard simply held on to him. The five minutes (at most) suddenly seemed to last much longer.  
After a few more moments of silence in which Richard had held the clammy-feeling hand in his, a beam of light reached them. The end of the subway was approaching.  
Suddenly the footsteps beside him stopped and Flake‘s fingers closed tightly around Richard‘s. Only the left half of his face was lit by the faint light but Richard thought he could recognize a small smile on his lips as he turned to Flake.  
Again he felt his heartbeat turn unsteady and then beat in a quick rhythm against his breastbone. Richard wanted to tell the keyboarder how much he wanted to be there for him, even though he had not known him for long, but he did not manage to break away from the long gaze they shared.  
At the edge of his consciousness he registered that their faces were moving in closer in the dimly lit darkness.  
The kiss was brief but Richard was so overwhelmed by his feelings that tears came to his eyes, widened by surprise.  
He eyed the closed eyes and the slowly relaxing features of the other man for the few seconds their lips hesitantly touched. Then he gently returned the pressure of the hand in his.  
The light touch of fingertips on the inside of his wrists and the subsequent chill were the last thing he felt before they parted again.  
Slowly and a little shakily Richard exhaled and closed his eyes for a moment.  
He did not open them until he heard Flake moving away from him and stopping at the platform.  
The last few minutes until the train arrived, the two of them stood quietly next to each other and tried to observe or touch each other more or less secretly. Not too far away Richard heard the sound of the train wheels on the metal rails.  
Without hesitation he put his arms around the other‘s waist and hugged him tightly.  
In his embrace the keyboarder felt strangely vulnerable but nevertheless Flake still smiled when he got on the train.  
“Goodbye“, he said as he turned again at the doorway. His voice did not sound as weakened and uncertain as before.  
Smiling, Richard waved and as the train raced past him, he noticed that Flake had kept his coat.  
Although on the way back to the apartment a fresh wind came up, he was not cold a bit.

**Author's Note:**

> If you'd like to talk about this fanfic, Rammstein or anything else, feel free to send me a message via tumblr (sake-illustrates.tumblr.com/).


End file.
